Soundbites

GET ME NEW YEAR'S INFO, DAMMIT!

To start off, a quick reminder to all clubs, restaurants, other
venues and/or promoters hosting New Year's Eve celebrations that will
feature live music or other similar festivities: There are only a
couple of days left to send me details about your event to be included
in our annual New Year's Guide. Considering how little
information I've received so far, I'm not sure what part of "free
publicity" you don't understand.

All you need to do is send complete details—that's performers,
location, address, phone number, Web site, time, cost and a description
of the event—to musiced@tucsonweekly.com
and listings@tucsonweekly.comno later than Friday, Dec. 11, and your event will be covered in
the guide.

BENEFITS IN ABUNDANCE

'Tis the season of giving, and there's no shortage of people who are
in need these days. Why not help out by attending one of the following
benefit shows?

Two benefits are being held this week for Marc Scape Lind,
our pal and an all-around swell guy. (Note: Details removed at the family's request.)

Tonight, Thursday, Dec. 10, at Vaudeville, 110 E.
Congress St., a special edition of the weekly Werd Em Up series
called My Brother's Keeper, featuring Junior Bangers,
will be held in Marc's honor, with all proceeds going towards his
medical costs. Things get started at 9 p.m., and admission is a
suggested donation of $5.

The following night, Friday, Dec. 11, a gathering will take
place from 6 to 10 p.m. at NoRTH at La Encantada, 2995 E.
Skyline Drive. Free appetizers will be offered from 8 to 9 p.m., and a
raffle featuring prizes from RA Sushi, Zoe Boutique and others will be
held, too. Raffle tickets are $5.

Both events will also feature specials on Marc's drink of choice,
the Matador, all night long. For further information, call Vaudeville
at 622-3535, or NoRTH at 299-1600.

Dan Bunnell, a veteran of several local bands and current
host of musicians' jams at The Hut, Stadium Grill and the Bashful
Bandit—you may know him as The Deacon—has a
favorite saying: Sometimes you get chicken, and sometimes you get
feathers. The Deacon has encountered his share of feathers recently in
the form of health issues, and a benefit will be held for him all day
and night at the Bashful Bandit, 3686 E. Speedway Blvd., starting at 1
p.m., Sunday, Dec. 13. Performers were still being rounded up at
press time, but among the already confirmed are Shell Shock
featuring Bob Russell and special guest Michael Bruce, from
the original Alice Cooper band, Kuz-N-Stanley Band, Mikey and
the Maniacs, Bryan Dean, Split Decision, Megan's
Law, Usual Suspects and The Cobras. Admission is a
suggested donation of $5. Call the Bandit at 795-8996 with any
questions you may have.

Avid Tucson Weekly readers may remember a column Randy
Serraglio wrote in our Oct. 29 issue about Dwight Metzger's Gloo
Factory, which has been doing low-cost or free printing for
numerous progressive, environmental and human-rights organizations in
town over the last 20 years. The Gloo Factory is currently housed in
yet another of the warehouses that is being auctioned off by the
Arizona Department of Transportation, and a campaign is underway to
raise cash for the Gloo Factory to buy the building.

Blues for the Gloo Factory: A Benefit for Tucson's Not-for-Profit
Printing Co-op will take place at 7 p.m., next Thursday, Dec.
17, at Boondocks Lounge, 3306 N. First Ave. A suggested
donation of $5 to $7 gets you in the doors for performances by
Caliche con Carne, the Pinche Blues Band and Lefty
Larry and the Avengers. For more info about the organization or the
benefit, head to savethegloofactory.org.

It's not really news that state budget cuts are hitting schools hard
these days, and things will likely get worse before they get better. To
combat the cuts, some parents of kids who attend the Miles
Exploratory Learning Center, which recently lost its Opening Minds
Through the Arts funding, and which, according to a press release,
"(serves) the needs of children in (the Tucson Unified School District)
who are hearing-impaired or autistic alongside their typical peers,"
have put together a benefit "to underline the importance of music and
art education for our city's children."

The ever-fabulous Howe Gelb and His Melted Wires, an ad-hoc
band featuring drummer John Convertino (Calexico), bassist
Thøger Lund (Giant Sand) and trumpeter Jacob
Valenzuela (Calexico), will perform at the Loft Cinema, 3233
E. Speedway Blvd., at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 12. It will be
Gelb's only local live performance in 2009. Following the live segment,
the theater will screen 'Sno Angel Winging It, a
50-minute film documenting Gelb's collaboration with the Voices of
Praise gospel choir. Admission is $13.50, and all proceeds will be
donated to Miles E.L.C.'s music and art programs. For further details,
call 795-7777.

CHEEP BUT DAMN GOOD

Formed in 2007, Cheepness features local music veterans Randy
McReynolds (vocals, guitar), Mike Sydloski (vocals, guitar), E.E.
Mendoza (drums, vocals) and the Weekly's own Duane Hollis
(vocals, bass). This week, the group will release its debut album,
Shakin' Hands With the King (Isabelline), and celebrate it with
a CD-release party.

Shakin' Hands contains a dozen songs that the band calls
"(hard) rock and Sonoran blues," and that's a pretty accurate
description; Cheepness is clearly rooted in the blues-rock that was so
prevalent in the 1970s. Opener "I Can't Believe" sounds like one of
those Keith Richards-sung songs that Jagger only allowed one or two of
per Stones album—all slinky groove and sly vocals. "Wind Up Dead"
suggests what the Meat Puppets would have sounded like had they
worshiped slide-guitar blues instead of the Grateful Dead, and "Evel,"
sung from the point of view of the greatest daredevil who ever lived
(an Evel Knievel doll has a very special place on my fireplace mantel),
is classic desert rock, pure and simple.

Elsewhere, "Painful" is a guitar-centric homage to ZZ Top (with a
bit more of that Meat Puppets influence); "Another" is a wistful power
ballad straight outta the '70s; and the 6 1/2-minute "14 Me" features
searing dual-lead guitar work. The term "bar band" has taken on
negative connotations in the last decade or two, but Cheepness has
proudly reclaimed it: They're a damn good bar band.

Cheepness celebrates the release of Shakin' Hands With the
King by performing in the middle slot at Plush, 340 E. Sixth
St., on Saturday, Dec. 12. Gila Bend, which is also
releasing a new album any day now, headlines, and The Monitors
open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is five bucks, and you can call
798-1298 with questions.

SHORT TAKES

You can also catch Gila Bend’s frontman leading the Loren Dircks Band at Vaudeville,
110 E. Congress St., on Wednesday, Dec. 16, on a bill that
includes The Fisters and the Tucson debut of rabble-rouser Fish
Karma's new band, Fish Karma and the Love Generation, whose
forthcoming album Halloween in America will be released on Jello
Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label. That one should get rolling
around 9 p.m., and you can call 622-3535 for more info.

File this one under "holy crap!": Spot, the dude who was the
house producer and engineer for most of the albums released on the
mighty SST Records between 1979 and 1985—he is credited on albums
by Black Flag, Minutemen, Hüsker Dü, and the Meat Puppets
among many others—will perform a solo show on Wednesday, Dec.
16, at the Red Room at Grill. He'll begin playing around 10
p.m., and as always, admission is free. Call 623-7621 for
further details.

ON THE BANDWAGON

There's a ton of great shows this week that we simply didn't have
room to tell you about—among them, performances from the
Supersuckers, Agent Orange, Nitzer Ebb, The
Devil Wears Prada, Saosin and P.O.S.,
Ryanhood, Eric Church and The Kris
Special—so be sure to check out our listings section.